Little is the first active Irish international to be granted a contract to play in the world's largest franchise event.
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After being selected by the Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2023 auctions, Irish international Josh Little has committed to joining the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2023. Little is the first active Irish international to be granted a contract to play in the world’s largest franchise event. Little, 23, made his Ireland international debut in 2016. Since then, the left-arm seamer from Dublin has played two ODIs and 53 T20Is for his country.
While local Irish fans had been aware of Little’s potential for many years, he burst onto the international scene in May 2019 in his ODI debut, when he claimed 4-45 in a devastating spell of pace bowling against England in Dublin, removing three of the top four batters, including Eoin Morgan for a duck (Morgan is the only other Irish-born cricketer to feature in the IPL previously, however, he was playing for England at that time of his involvement).
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“I’m delighted to have been signed by the defending champions, the Gujarat Titans, and look forward to playing under Hardik Pandya within such a high-quality squad. I’m also looking forward to working with coach Ashish Nehra and would like to thank the management team at the Titans for believing in me. I have loved playing international cricket for Ireland – and that will always remain my priority, but to be able to learn and play in the IPL will be an incredible opportunity and thanks to Cricket Ireland for supporting me in this”, Little said after being picked by GT.
Little’s most recent bowling heroics for the national team came in the ICC T20 World Cup against New Zealand, where he became the sixth bowler in T20 World Cup history to record a hat-trick. Little has also played in other franchise leagues, including the LPL and The Hundred, and was selected in the PSL draught last month and has been offered a deal in the SA20. Recognizing the possibility of Little’s success in today’s draught, Cricket Ireland informed both the player and the tournament organiser that a NOC would be issued allowing Little to participate in the entire IPL season, with one brief exception covering the three WSL ODIs against Bangladesh in May 2023.
